by J. N. Chaney
“I haven’t actually seen a Reckoning yet,” Nell admitted as we left the room.
Her confession made me stop and I put a hand on her arm. “There are a few things I need to tell you about then.”
She listened intently. I studied her face for any indication that she was lying but found none.
“I knew it was bad,” she said when I finished. “People were getting taken away and not coming back.”
“Tiberius is… terrifying.”
“I really thought he was just something Mario made up to make everyone fall in line,” she whispered.
“No,” I told her. “This isn’t going to be easy. Are you sure you can do this?”
She nodded fiercely. “I owe it to them.”
I didn’t disabuse her of the notion because, frankly, she was right.
“Let’s go,” I said, taking off at a jog.
The rest of the encampment looked abandoned. Was everyone at the caves? Or had that many people fled, unable to serve Mario? The latter seemed possible, given what Nell had told me and my own experiences with the man.
It wasn’t hard to see how he had gained his initial following. I’d known him my entire life, and he’d always been levelheaded, a respected hunter, and my father’s closest friend.
If he’d brought his concerns to the other hunters, I could understand them taking him seriously and moving to unseat my father as Director. Mario had said that no one had taken him seriously when he tried to tell them about Tiberius, though. What had he told the hunters to make them believe him? They were now part of his inner circle, for sure. The ones who had spoken against Cyril at the ceremony. There had to be more to how this all began, but I didn’t have time to puzzle it out. We had arrived.
As soon as we cleared the passageway, Mario, Nero, and a dozen or so of their rebels came into view. All of them were armed, not with spears, but with rifles and handguns.
Just great, I thought, noting how outnumbered we were. From the smirks on their faces, they knew it too.
The prisoners stood in the same spot Laurell had the day before. A few more of Mario's men had weapons trained on them, I assumed in case someone tried to run. I scanned the group until I found Mark and Lambert.
“How did you know?” I asked Mario, tightening my grip on the staff.
He scoffed. “Stupid girl. How could you think I wouldn’t be watching?”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth I felt like an idiot. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Of course, he would have a camera in the lab to keep an eye on me. As soon as Nell showed up, he probably took action.
“This is a job for adults,” he told me snidely. “Give up now, you’re barely a prospus out of training.”
“And you’re crazy,” I shot back, not caring that it sounded juvenile.
“Nell, dear,” he said, ignoring me and turning his attention on her. “Retrieve the staff and I’ll forgive you.”
I tensed, more than a little nervous that she might sell me out, but she shook her head. “No. I’m done following you.”
His eyes flashed in anger. “Then you want to die? So be it.”
He lifted the rifle and I stepped in front of Nell protectively. I wasn’t going to let him kill again.
“How can you be a leader if you have to make others do your dirty work?” I sneered. “If you want the staff, come get it. Unless you’re afraid of a prospus just out of training.”
That caused a stir among his hunters and Mario looked around nervously, but his response was cut off.
THOM.
THOM.
THOM.
“Sounds like Tiberius is on his way,” I said. “I bet he’d love to hear all about how you plan to use this staff on him.”
All the color seemed to drain from his face.
“That’s what I thought. Let us—all of us—go now and he won’t hear it from me.”
“Father, you can’t seriously be—”
“Shut up, Nero,” Mario ordered.
THOM.
THOM.
THOM.
“You’re running out of time,” I said lightly.
“Fine, take them and go,” Mario seethed. “We won’t stop you.”
“If you shoot us in the back, know that I will use my dying breath to bring this entire cavern down around us,” I warned him.
To show that I was serious, I activated the staff, a blue light forming around the tip.
Mario scowled, clearly offended by the insinuation that he lacked honor. This man, who thought he was doing the right thing in all of this. “I won’t,” he said, simply.
“Let’s go,” I said to Nell.
We were almost halfway to Mark and the other prisoners when Tiberius entered the cavern, followed closely by three of his kind. His cold, blue eyes took in the scene before him.
“What is this, Mario?” he asked, the words echoing loudly.
“Run!” I yelled, grabbing Nell’s hand, but she seemed rooted to the ground.
She was looking at Tiberius in horror, her mouth agape, body frozen. Nell wasn’t the only one. A few of the prisoners stood stock still, unable to move. Others scattered like insects, some of them screaming, and made for different tunnels.
“No!” I shouted, panicking in the moment of chaos.
Nell still wasn’t moving, so I did the only thing I could think of and slapped her.
That seemed to jolt her. She flinched and stared at me.
“Nell, we have to move. Now!”
“Ri-right,” she stuttered, still terrified but at least out of her trance now.
“Tiberius!” Mario yelled above the mayhem. “These Boneclaw hunters were the ones acting on Cyril’s orders and killing your family. They’re trying to get away!”
Orders? I thought. What was he talking about? More than a few of his captives were not hunters.
Tiberius swung his head sharply to fleeing prisoners and let out a series of fast clicks and chittering noises to the other three Boneclaws.
All at once things became clear.
This was how Mario had achieved an Alliance with the talking Boneclaw. He had told Tiberius that my father was purposely killing them. No wonder he wanted payback.
Cyril had never issued an order like that. His and every Prime’s decisions were balanced toward the preservation and sustainment of every species of life on this world. It was the only way to maintain a future for ourselves. Mario, as Tiberius’ only direct contact with humans, had convinced the creature that my father was to blame.
I’d have to worry about that later. For now, we had to get out.
I needed to slow the Boneclaws down. I fired a volley of small blasts from the staff at the cavern walls, careful to avoid Tiberius, his soldiers, and our people. My hope was that it would bring down enough debris to give us at least a few meters distance, but the walls held and it was all for little more than a few bursts of dust.
But Boneclaws covered their ears. I suddenly remembered the video from the archives. They were sensitive to loud noises.
“Everyone head for the smallest tunnel!” I yelled, raising the staff and shooting again as we ran.
Mark heard me and started shouting at the people around him. A few caught on and changed direction, heading for the small opening I’d pointed out, but many had already scattered.
Tiberius snatched a fleeing woman who was trying to escape and tossed her aside, as if she weighed no more to him than a datapad did to me.
My blasts were starting to have an unanticipated side effect. As they struck the rock walls in quick succession the vibrations shook the ceiling. Stalactites began to break loose, arrowing into the ground and bursting, sending small stone fragments in all directions.
I stopped firing when a hunk of rock came crashing down nearby, narrowly missing one of the running prisoners, but it was too late.
Another piece fell and struck one of the smaller Boneclaws in the shoulder. It howled in pain and scrambled back, unsure where the blow had come from
.
Tiberius roared again and searched the cave for the source of the blasts. His icy blue eyes landed on me and held my gaze. Then he charged.
I ran with everything I had, eating up ground and wishing like hell Tiberius would trip and fall on his face. I made it into the tunnel just behind Nell and Prime Lambert, who didn’t move as fast as us younger ones.
“Don’t stop!” I bellowed.
It was a good thing I did too, because the tunnel wall shook as the massive creature struck the opening. His size prevented him from giving chase, but I looked behind me and saw his clawed hand arcing through the air.
My muscles were on fire, but I dug deep and found more, running faster than I’d ever thought possible.
Something hit me in the back, but not hard, and I realized it was a spray of dust and rock from Tiberius’ hand missing me and digging into the ground.
When I turned around, he was dragging it back, leaving deep grooves in the rocky floor. I heard shouts and recognized Allan’s voice. Mario must have sent them in after us when he saw we were getting away.
“Everyone keep going,” I ordered. “I’m going to head them off so they can’t follow us.”
“You can’t face them alone,” Nell protested.
“Don’t worry, I’m not,” I assured her.
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to do what I think you’re going to do,” asked Mark, who must have noticed the grim look of determination on my face. “That didn’t turn out so well last time, remember.”
“It’s the only play we’ve got,” I grunted, lifting the staff and creating another sphere of energy. “Here we go again,” I said under my breath.
This time I was careful not to overdo it and took the time to aim before releasing the orb.
I still wasn’t entirely prepared for the shockwave, but at least I managed to stay upright as the ceiling began to fall.
16
“You’re either brave or crazy,” Mark coughed in the dark.
This tunnel had been dug by the Boneclaws, and as such, it had no source of light. When the cave-in blocked off access to the cavern, it had also plunged us into total darkness.
“A little of both,” I replied, releasing enough energy to turn the staff into a light source.
“Come on, “I said. “I think I can hear the others up ahead. We need to clear out in case that didn’t stop everyone following us.”
The other two nodded and we followed the tunnel until the small group of survivors came into view. I tried not to wince when I only counted seven forms.
“What’s going on?” asked Don Hardy, his voice unsteady.
I couldn’t remember what his job was in the community, but I’d seen him around plenty. He was bald and always wore a thick cap to stave off the cold. At the moment, he looked skittish. His eyes were wide with fear as though he’d run away at any moment.
“I had to close off the tunnel entrance to stop anything from getting in,” I explained.
“No, not that. Her. She’s been helping them, I saw it.”
He was looking at Nell accusingly.
Even in the dim light I could see her pale face turn red and she twisted her hands together nervously.
There were a few grunts of assent from the others, but I focused on Don. “Nell is the reason you’re not still in that room or Boneclaw dinner. I trust her,” I said, fixing a cold stare on him.
“Who put you in charge?” His voice was rising, his fear becoming something else. “You’re a child barely out of training.”
My temper flared. Mario’s words from Don’s mouth.
“I did,” declared Prime Lambert, appearing from somewhere in the back. “As the highest-ranking citizen among you, that is my right. Miss Visaro is more than qualified for the task.”
Don looked as though he might protest but must have thought better of it.
“Mark, can you do anything with this?” I asked, shooting Lambert a grateful glance, then pulling the datapad out and handing it to Mark. “It’s been restricted.”
He took it from me with an of course I can look, then started working on it with a series of complicated finger taps.
“We can’t stay here long,” I reminded him. “If you can get it working, we’ll have the map and you can try to get a message out.”
“It’s done,” he announced less than a minute later, not hiding his pride. “But it’s useless right now. Wherever we are, it’s not close enough to the facility to get any kind of signal.”
“Will it still work to modify the staff? I don’t think using the core’s energy like this for long is a good idea. If something catches me off guard, it’s liable to cause another cave-in. I want to put a cap on the power output to prevent that.”
He performed a few more taps and handed the pad over. “Yeah, it can still connect. Just remember if we get into trouble, we’ll have to stop and recode it again.”
“I know, but it’s either that or we walk in the dark. Unless someone has a light?” I asked, glancing around at the others.
Don shook his head and averted his gaze, clearly still upset about Nell. When no one spoke up, I made the necessary alterations on my own, capping the energy draw at 18 gigajoules. I reasoned that it would be enough to stop any trouble we ran into without killing us in the process.
I was about to disconnect the pad when I paused, quickly making a final alteration. “Mark,” I said, waving him over. “I don’t want to advertise this, but I took off the bio lock in case someone else has to use this.”
He nodded. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”
After it was done, I walked away from the group a few dozen paces and tried an experimental shot. The staff produced a small stream of blue light that dissipated as soon as it left the barrel.
“Okay, we’re good,” I said crisply, trying not to show my annoyance at hobbling my weapon.
A loud bang came from the caved in area, and everyone froze. Then it came again, louder this time, followed by the sound of falling rock.
“They’re trying to get through,” Don whispered, stating the obvious.
“Everyone, move!” I ordered, leading the way at a brisk pace.
The racket continued as we moved farther into the tunnel, but I took that as a sign that they hadn’t made it through yet. This tunnel mirrored the one Nero had lured us to—empty, with deep grooves in the floor and walls where the Boneclaws had dug.
“Hey, got a signal,” Mark said after a little while. “It’s not strong enough to send a message, but the map is working.”
“Where are we?”
He showed me our green marker in an unmapped part of the cave system and shrugged. “This tunnel wasn’t exactly part of the original design.”
“It has to end soon,” I pointed out. “That’s the encasement assembly line of the fusion core facility.”
“Which has been deemed off limits by the Primes and your father,” he reminded me.
“Somehow, I don’t think we’re going to get reprimanded for breaking that ordinance,” I said.
“Of course not, dear,” said Lambert, walking faster to catch pace with us.
I waited a beat to see if Nell would as well, but she hung back and kept quiet. In fact, I realized she hadn’t spoken since Don’s outburst, and I had a feeling it was to keep the others’ attention off of her.
Part of me felt bad for her, but Don hadn’t been altogether wrong. She had made a choice to follow Mario, at least for a time. There was bound to be some fallout from that.
“You know why it’s off limits, don’t you?” asked Mark, a touch too peppy for my liking.
“Yeah,” I said, waving a hand. “Unstable materials, structural damage, lots of broken machinery. We were in the same class, remember?”
Mark looked a little deflated, as though I’d scored higher on one of Janus’ quizzes or something. “Don’t forget about the radiation,” he said, perky again.
“Right,” I said, slapping my forehead in mock dismay.
“How could I forget the radiation.”
“Well, I did some studying on the facility.”
“You don’t say?” I muttered. My patience had begun to wear thin from the subject.
“Yes, of course,” he continued, not catching my sarcasm. “In case we had to go there for the fusion core task. Anyway, there’s a tank of water under the assembly line area.”
“So?”
Mark blinked. “It’s contaminated, likely from the up-channel flow from the production line.”
“How contaminated?” I asked, a little more curious now. “Like melt our faces off contaminated? Instantaneous death?”
“Death wouldn’t be immediate,” he replied seriously. “The opposite actually. It would be slow and agonizing.”
“Well, let’s avoid that, then,” I said quickly, before he could launch into a detailed description of the side effects and scare the others more than they needed to be. “It’d be a shame to come all this way only to die from exposure.”
“We should be out of here soon,” he commented a few minutes later. “The facility is less than a hundred meters away. I think it will be around the next bend.”
Mark’s prediction turned out to be correct and we were soon standing in a large space that had clearly been built by the Eternals.
Where the tunnel had been crude and simplistic, the advanced architecture of our ancestors was prevalent here. Metallic surfaces and abandoned equipment abounded, though there was no evidence of power. My staff remained the only light and it wasn’t bright enough to illuminate the entire area, giving the space an unsettling feel.
“What’s the best way through here?” I asked Mark.
The rest of the group huddled close, looking unnerved by their surroundings. I couldn’t blame them. Besides the lack of power, the place looked as if all the workers had gone on a break and would be back at any time.
Industrial vehicles had been parked haphazardly, some with loads still raised into the air. A conveyor meant to transport materials throughout the facility still had half-filled compartments, waiting to be loaded and sent on their way to destinations unknown.
“Okay, I’ve been looking it over and did the same thing we did when looking for the fusion cores. The red areas are high levels of radiation. Yellow for medium, green for safe.”
